Although it may seem a bit complicated on the surface, in the end hiding files from Mac takes just a few quick steps. Here's what to do
Do you often share your dear and precious Mac with other people in your home or office? Well, your personal data is under the gun of prying eyes. Yet there is a very effective trick to protect yourself from snoopers: try hiding the files and folders saved on your Apple computer.
The method, which we will shortly explain, will allow you to keep the curious away from the data on your Macs. Although on the surface it may seem a bit complicated - it is, if compared to the technique with which you can make files and folders "disappear" on Windows - in the end putting it into practice will be very simple. You just need to learn how to do it. And believe us, the mechanism requires just a few easy commands. A piece of cake even for people who are unfamiliar with computers produced by the Cupertino-based company. The procedure won't delete files or folders, it will simply hide them. And only the owners will know of their existence. Here's what to do.
How to hide files and folders
First you will have to open the Terminal of the Mac. Press the "Command" key (CMD) plus the space key and type the word Terminal in the next window. At this point, to start the command center in the Apple computer, click on enter.
Now we enter the most important stage where you have to pay special attention. In the Terminal, type the command chflags hidden, but do not click Enter.
Once you have done that, drag a file or folder into the program window and only now click the Enter key. After performing the procedure, if everything is successful, the contents to be hidden will disappear from your Mac.
How to view hidden files
And how to view hidden files and folders? There are several ways. The quickest is to reopen the terminal again and type these character strings: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE and press enter and then killall Finder and click Enter again.
The procedure does not cancel the command that allows you to hide files and folders, but it allows the user to make the contents "reappear" only momentarily.
To disable the feature permanently you have to once again use the Terminal and enter the command chflags nohidden and drag, as done before, the hidden folder or files. Press enter and everything will be back as before.